Says DAP Malaysiakini.Com Jan 7, 2014 the DAP Central

Amendment move 'only a suggestion', says DAP MalaysiaKini.com Jan 7, 2014

The DAP central leadership has played down a controversial proposal by three of its Selangor assemblypersons to amend a Selangor enactment on propagation of non-Islamic religions as “only a suggestion”.

Party organising secretary Anthony Loke (right) said that any decision on such matters would need buy-in from the Pakatan Rakyat leadership council and there has been no discussion at that level.

“I hope our friends in PAS and PKR are not slighted by it,” he told reporters today.

Loke said that DAP central leadership has also not discussed the matter, but Pakatan Rakyat encourages its lawmakers to have views on issues.

“I feel we should be open to suggestions by our assemblypersons and members of Parliament,” he said.

Tradition of openness

Likewise, he is fine with PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim’s rebuke of the DAP assemblypersons for “being hasty”, and said there is a tradition of openness within the coalition.

In any case, he said, DAP only has 15 assemblypersons in the Selangor legislative assembly and will not be able to push through an amendment on its own.

“We need not prolong this matter as it is only a suggestion by three assemblypersons,” he said.

He was commenting on a suggestion made by Yeo Bee Yin (Damansara Utama), Lau Weng San (Kampung Tunku) and Rajiv Rishyakaran (Bukit Gasing) to amend the Selangor Non-Islamic Religion (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.

The trio, who stressed it is their personal view and not that of DAP’s, wants the enactment to be amended to protect the right to freedom of religion for all Malaysians, in accordance with the federal constitution.

This followed the raid by the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) on the Bible Society Malaysia on Jan 2, where more than 300 copies of the Bahasa Malaysia and Iban language Bible were seized.